Finding Freedom
by The Lady of Gaia
Summary: Born a lady of nobility, but a hunter at heart; Kagome is trapped by the rules of her society. Unable to take it and the choices forced on her by her sex, she will do the unthinkable for a woman. She will leave her home to explore the world beyond her nation and the wonders that await her. Prince by birth, warrior of heart; Sesshomaru will follow her in his duty to their nation.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, I'm the lady of Gaia!

This is my second Sesshomaru and Kagome fanfiction.

This will be a lot different from other Fanfiction of this pairing. This one will follow the plot of one of my OC stories and will take on a different writing format then I use for my fanfictions since it is following the plot of my OC.

Anyway, here we go and don't forget everyone, I don't own the characters, just the plot that they'll follow in this story and I'm so not saying this again. This is for all the chapters.

Chapter 1

The forest was quiet and still. The animals knew that she was there and that she was on a hunt, excitement burned in her at the thought of her winning the hunting contest.

Sound suddenly blasted through the forest, from the direction of the other hunters. Kagome glared in their direction for a moment before turning her eyes back to the trail of the bejeweled stag that she followed. Beautiful and powerful creatures, their bones were made of jewels that magic casters desired greatly.

Their flesh could many illnesses and their fur was made of gold and silver. For the people of Tierra Regnum, there was no higher prized kill in their lands and hunters that killed one were seen as greatly skilled…if they were a man.

More sound blasted through the forest, but she ignored it and followed the trail.

Her feet were quick, but silent as they moved across the grassy earth. The air brushed again her skin and hair. Her body felt more alive with each step that she took and as the sun rained down on her.

She would likely be dancing in the freedom that she held in that moment. Sadly, she was not the dancer in the family.

She was good hunter, but her older brother was far better than her and was never interested in the hunting contests anymore. Kagome frowned when the trail suddenly disappeared. It was odd, the bejeweled stags that she had hunted in the past have never disappeared like this. It made no sense to her at all.

She turned to giant ashwood tree beside her.

"Can you help me find my prey?" She asked politely. A few leaves fell from the giant's branches before she hear it voice.

" _With pleasure, sacred one. It had been startled from the ground by the other hunters; your prey is in the branches of my lover_." Boomed the tree's great voice as its roots burst from the earth.

She climbed on and it rushed up to the sea of emerald green leaves about her head. The air rushed pass, but she barely noticed as her heart roared in her chest at how fast the limb moved. It was faster than anything that she had ridden in her life. It filled her with excitement and joy whenever a tree allowed her to climb on for a trip to the sea of emerald green leaves.

Trees were sacred to her people and it was forbidden to ever harm one. It was also forbidden to her people to go to the sea of leaves unless they had permission from the royal family or had the permission of the trees themselves.

She was one of the rare few that only had to ask the trees. There was likely only one or two like her in every generation. She was one and the crown princess was the other. It made the both of them highly prized by the noble lineage and something that her family would had fierily protected like the princess was if her family knew of her gifts with the land and plants.

But they'll never learn of it. She thought to herself as she stepped onto the ashwood tree's branches. "Thank you for allowing me to step upon your branches to get my prey."

" _You are welcome, sacred one. You are always welcome in the sea of leaves."_ The tree said, which was then echoed by the other trees in the forest. She smiled and then bowed before turning to look for her prey.

The sea of leaves was spread wide with each tree and it took time to find the stag's trail again. It was still a bit surprised that the creature had jumped all the way up here. But the knowledge whispered to her that she needed to be more careful and avoid close-combat killing was clear to her.

It was then that she noticed the bejeweled stag, staring at her and stopped dead in her tracks.

It was truly lovely with silver fur and the antlers made of red crystal. She didn't move a muscle, know that the creature would run like dark god's children were at its heels if she did. So Kagome stood there and waited for the stag to lower its guard and relax.

Hours passed by them as she waited for the animal to lower his guard. Slowly, it did, turning it head away from her, away from the danger that she was to it and she took her bow from her back to aim her arrow at the stag before her. The stag had turned its head in that moment; their eyes met.

She felt the need to give the goddess's prayer to the creature before she killed it.

"Great Goddess of the Earth, mother to the sons and daughters of Tierra Regnum, I am one of your daughters and followers. I take this creature's life and ask that you do not let its death and rage to touch me and protect me. Protect us and keep us both pure in this life and the next." Her arrow flew in that moment and found home within the stag's flesh.

It was not a killing blow, but it would pain the creature too much to allow it to move. She ran to it and knelt down at its head. They stared into each other's eyes as she draw her hunting blade.

"The Goddess will take you now and if you take to release your anger to me when I come, then I will accept it as my punishment for your life." She said before putting her blade to its throat and felt the blade slice through the fur, flesh and blood of the creature.

She moved the stage's corpse to the edge of the branch, letting the creature's blood drain away from its body. Little branches grow at its hind legs and held the stag there.

"Thank you." She said to the tree beneath her feet.

" _You're welcome, sacred one. But I should be the one to thank you for the blood…I have been feeling unwell for-_ "

"Sometime? I know; it's why I had it come in this direction. I was worried when I lost sight of it before." She wished that she had acted to aid the tree sooner, but because she had to hide her gifts it had taken some time to do as needed to aid the tree. She regretted it the wait, but knew that she had to think of her future as well.

Touching a gentle hand to the bark beneath her, she looked at the lovely creature that she had killed. Its death had would serve two purposes. The two outweigh the stag's one life, but it didn't make the weight of the death any less to her.

Watching the golden blood fall to the earth below made her think of the poisonous power of the blood. Her people were the only ones that dared to make a meal of the creature besides the dragons of the sky. No other dared because of the stag's blood killing any that attacked. It would kill all but the trees and dragon, which both found to be a strong healing potion for many illnesses of a deadly nature.

"Do you think it will forgive me in the next life?" She asked no one.

" _You killed it to heal me and to make a better future for yourself…the Goddess will make the stag see things through your eyes, sacred one_." The tree beneath her answered. She took comfort in the kind words.

Soon, all the blood had drained from the corpse and it was time to head back to the village with her prize in hand. Taking the flute at her waist, she played a short but gentle song to summon her mount to her and take her prey back to gain the prize.

The wind carried the song on the wind and it wasn't long before her mount, Koga appeared next to her. The bark rippled like water as he came from it and stood at her side.

It amazed her family that she had been given an earth wolf. They saw it as a sign that she would make a good marriage with a powerful family.

Kagome saw what Koga truly meant. He was the embodiment of the freedom that she would one day soon take for herself. If lucky was on her side, she would soon be free and away from her people and their oppressive traditions and beliefs towards women.

" _Quite the catch, Kagome. I want a cut of that meat for my dinner tonight if I'm going to be carrying it back for you_." He demanded.

She just smiled and nodded as she moved to get the stag onto his back. It was not an easy task for her since the stag was double her own weight. But she got it on his back and the tree was more than kind enough to help them down from its great branches with its roots.

Despite the fact Koga was a giant of a beast that could carry her and her prey easily, she decided to walk back to the village at his side instead of on his back.

The trees started to sing. It was a sweet and beautiful sing of when many trees had been young enough to meet the first warrior. The song told of the first warrior's battles in their lands against the dark gods and how the first warrior taught her people how to battle with the help of his tribe.

She had asked questions about the ancient warrior, but the trees could not remember if the warrior had been male or female or even the first warrior's name. Those they did remember the first warrior's tribe had become the queendom of Relevandae Animae and that the queens were his descendants by blood and teachings.

It had been surprising to learn that when every country, kingdom, or nation claimed that the first warrior was born in their lands. It seemed a bit foolish to her. But then the first warrior had saved their world from the dark gods and their children.

Who wouldn't want to have a claim to such a hero?

All too soon, she returned to the village. The trees called out to her in welcome, but she did not give her thanks for it. People walked about their lives as always, men and women walked out of their sapling tree homes to shops and vendors or to their places of work.

But one could feel the excitement of the people. Everyone wanted to know that who would win the hunting contest this year.

Walking to the village square, the crowd suddenly shouted in praise and joy. Confused, she headed to the center to that the prize was being handed over to Rikichi for the ground bear that he had hunted down.

The bear was a fine catch with its fur white from age, its fang and claws long as well as sharp from hunting and burrowing into the earth. But she had the better prey and any with eyes in their eyes would know it from one glance.

Her father moved to give Rikichi the prize of a chest of fire jewels. Her view turned red with rage and shot an arrow between the two men before she could think twice on her actions. All eyes turned to her and some gasped as the prize on her earth wolf. Her own father looked it with a mix shock and rage, likely because her prey were far better than that of Rikichi's.

Her father turned his gaze back to her.

His eyes promised punishment for her actions and disrespect to him. she would look forward to it as well as the tongue lashing that she would give him for the disrespect given to her by his actions.

oOo

"Your actions were appalling, Kagome! You seek to shame me today? Because you have done so twice today." Her father roared at her the moment the family was locked away in his study. Safe from the ears of servants and from the wagging tongues of the villagers.

"Shame you? I was only seeking to honor this family and myself by winning the contest! I mean, did you see anyone else that bought a bejeweled stag as their prize? No! Only I did that!" Kagome hissed in outrage at her father's words.

She hadn't done anything wrong, she had gone hunting like the hunters of the village and killed a great prize to aid her future. There was no shame to be had in that and if she allowed her father to behave as if there was then it would only make the stag's death meaningless.

"Kagome, be more respectful to your father. Hunting is for men and you are a woman…it is wrong for you to go out into the forest and hunt like the men do." Her mother said.

Her mother's kind brown eyes seemed to beg her to understand and yet it was beyond her understanding to why she should act like she is useless beyond home and hearth. She wanted something more for herself; she wanted to read out in the open instead of in secret. She wanted to learn new things and explore the world beyond the trees. Yet her parents could not understand and would see it as wrong instead of it being right like it was.

"This is the fault of that woman from Relevandae Animae." Her older sister, Kikyo muttered.

Love her sister, she did…but Kagome couldn't stand her sister all the same. They were like night and day, Kikyo being their parent's pride and joy as she was their parent's shame and misery.

"What?" Kagome turn her eyes to her father.

The rage within him grew and he turned it towards her. She had been forbidden to talk with Sango like all women were. But she had disobeyed the order since she had seen no true different between her and Sango. At least not until she had talked with her.

It strike her what she and other women were given was so lacking compare to the lives of the women of Relevandae Animae. There was no limit to what one could do or desired beyond their imagination there. There were no rules that were guided by what was between their legs and it wounded her all the more to realize that she wasn't odd to feel that her country were lacking to her gender.

Her father was suddenly at her side and grabbed her shoulders. "You were forbidden to speak with that woman! Why! Why did you talk with her?!" He screeched her.

She said nothing. There was nothing to say that her parents would understand.

He threw her to the floor and stared at her for the longest time as she stared back at him. The eyes of her mother, sister and brothers were on her like they were watching a game of chess between her father and older brother.

"You have shamed m-"

"I have shamed no one, but you have shamed the death of my kill with your words and actions, father!" she interrupted, her ocean blue eyes wide with defiance of his belief of her shaming him.

She had shamed no one and no one would make her believe otherwise. Her father looked as if he wanted to strike her for her words, but then was forbidden to be done outside of the temple of the Goddess of the Earth. If he were to do otherwise, her older brother would be forced to take their father to the village square and kill him in the name of the Goddess in front of all the villagers.

Finally he sighed and looked away from her as if the sight of her was too much for him. Her brothers took it as sign that they could help her up and moved to do so.

"Leave…your mother and I will have to discuss your punishment alone." All of them bowed to their parents and left their father's study.

"Come Kagome, let's get you something to eat." Her older brother, Miroku said taking an arm to her shoulders and guiding her to the kitchen down below. Her little brother, Sota begged that she tell him of the story of her hunt as she promised to give.

The four of them went down to the kitchen, where the roots of their home were. The old cook, Kaede smiled brightly at the sight of her. It likely meant that she looked a fright from the hunt and her father's rage or that Kaede was enjoying the meat of the stag.

Kagome was going to give guess that it was the former instead of the latter.

"You brought back some fine flesh there. The meat is prefect for the stew pot and my oven." Kaede greeted. So it was the latter. Kagome thought with joy.

"You can have some; just have a care that good bit of it is smoked. I have planned to sell it later at market."

Kaede looked horrified at her words. "Sell it at market? The fool of a cook in the tavern would ruin the meat!"

"That fool of a cook is your husband and the owner of the tavern, Kaede." Sota muttered as he eyed the stew in Kaede's pot on the fire. He was forever hungry like a growing boy should be. Everyone looked at him and then laughed; Kaede laughed the loudest and hardest of them all.

"You're right about that, Lord Sota and he's good husband. Sadly, he not a good cook…he can burn water for the Goddess's sake. I'll never know how the people of the village can stomach his cooking when they go to the tavern." Everyone laughed at them…everyone, but Kikyo who remained silent.

Kagome knew she was going to get chewed out by her older sister, but wanted a full belly of food for when her sister did.

Kaede was quick to give out bowls to everyone and spoon her stew into each bowl before cutting up fresh bread for everyone to drip into the stew. Everyone went to the table to tuck into the food as Kaede put on a pot of herbal tea.

Silence fell over them with the only sound of their mouths chewing their food. Kagome felt her sister's eyes on her and said nothing to it; her sister would talk when she felt the need become too powerful. Knowing Kikyo as she did, it would only be a few more minutes before her sister spoke. Kagome couldn't help, but wonder why they were so different when they looked almost identical with the exception of their eyes.

Maybe it was because Miroku was closer to Kikyo in age and that's been able to teach Kikyo the same things that he had taught her. After all, she had only learned to read and write because of her brother. Was their brother the reason that they were so different or was it something else?

"Why can't you listen?" Came the whispered words from her sister's mouth.

"Say that again?"

"Why can't you listen? Why can't you be normal? You know that your actions shame and harm this family's reputation, but you do it anyway." Kikyo shouted suddenly.

Their brothers looked at Kikyo as did Kagome and Kaede. Everything turned silence again for a while, but no one touched their food. Finally Kagome sighed and looked her sister in the eye, seeing their mother's eyes reflected in Kikyo's.

"What do you hope your baby to be?" Kagome asked as she turned her ocean blue eyes to her sister's unborn child. She felt Kikyo's confused eyes on her face and waited for the answer to her question.

"A boy…what else?" came the answer stabbed Kagome in the heart.

"You shouldn't hope that's a boy or a girl, sister. You should hope that your baby will be healthy and nothing more. How many do you know that would answer the same? Because I know none at all." Kagome said and felt that it was a loss for women said such about their unborn children.

"What does it matter? My child and other women's children have no place in this conversation. We are talking about how you refuse to be what you are. How are you going to the sacred tree and ask it who your husband is if your impure ways will harm the tree." Kikyo said like that all that was important.

Kagome wanted to tell her sister that she never planned to marry that she planned to run away and be free. But she held her tongue, if anyone knew then they would stop her, force her to the sacred tree and then force her to marry the man that she saw. Her hopes and dreams of the future would be destroyed and she would not be who she was anymore.

She wanted to find love as she travelled, she wanted to them both to grow as people and she wanted him to love her as she was. Kagome knew that she would never find that in Tierra Regnum.

"The tree wouldn't turn me away because I have not been impure with my actions." Kagome said.

"But they are! Kagome, women must be pure at all time…how to you think soldiers survive after the horrid battles? They come home from those impure places and beings to the purity of their wives and daughters."

Kagome glanced at Miroku, to see him glare at Kikyo. She knew that her brother didn't agree with the beliefs of their culture like her after all, he had been forced to marry a shrew because of them instead of the woman that he had come to love.

No woman had come to claim her brother for a husband and no man had come to claim his shrew for a wife. That being the case for both of them, the king made the match and the two met for the first time at the altar. Their parents and Kikyo were happy with the match because of the shrew's beauty and the power of her family. But Miroku and the shrew were not happy about the match at all. Still they married though since neither wished to die.

"I don't agree and I think that is enough talk on the matter for the night, Kikyo." Kagome said, feeling tired and wary of everything suddenly.

"No! We are not done talking about this!"

"Enough!" Miroku roared, gaining everyone's attention in that moment. Kagome sighed and went back to her meal, seeing that her brother wanted to deal with their sister in this moment.

"You will drop this, Kikyo. You want to talk about our sister more than do it with our parents, for I will tell you that I have had enough with you trying to make her something that she isn't."

"I'm trying to help her, Miroku! I want her to have all the things that I have, I want her to be happy like you and me. Bu-"

"Be quiet! I have had enough of your voice talking about things that you do not know or will ever know." He ordered as he cut in.

Kagome looked at Kikyo, and saw how her older sister truly didn't understand why their brother was being like this or why she was the way that she was. There was nothing wrong with tradition and there some that she enjoyed, but she refused to let her culture control who she was as a person.

Kagome turn her gaze to Sota, seeing that the fight was upsetting him.

He was already eleven years of age and was still developing his own opinion of their world and culture. But he was still just child and was never one for fights of words. Fists, he was fine with, but he felt that words were too permanent to be used in a fight.

Looking at him, she knew that he would one day be a great man for his ideas and beliefs…if their culture didn't stop him.

She touched his head and kissed his forehead before getting up, everyone looked at her. She just smiled at them all warmly. "Good night." She said before leaving the kitchen to go and soak in a bath in her chambers.

The wooden halls of her home were warm and so familiar that she had no trouble finding her chambers. Her maids had already a hot bath waiting for her in her bathing chamber.

The chamber was rather big and the pool of water sunken into the floor. She had always loved the wooden craving on the walls.

She dismissed her maids for the night, feeling the need to be alone with herself. Taking her long black hair out of its braid, she thought of her actions through the day before she took a brush to her hair.

She smiled at its odd color, black hair was a rare sight in Tierra Regnum and was more common in Relevandae Animae and Sora Gentem. Then were where her ocean blue eyes were even rarer and both features made her well sought after as a future daughter-in-law. She knew many nobles that hoped their sons would not get matches from the sacred trees and that she would get no match as well so that they could convince the king to make her their daughter-in-law.

She hoped that she would be able to escape her fate before then.

Made her want to laugh at the thought what her parents would think if they knew that she wanted no match from the sacred tree in their village or that she didn't want to get married at all. Most would think her insane and others would think that she would only bring shame.

Taking off her jungle green silk shirt and then her hunting skirt, she turned to the water of her bath.

The burning heat of the water was sweet and soothing to her. It felt better than any professional hands on her body. The color told her that her maids had seen to it to add in some herbs to help relax her body from the tiring events and Kagome was grateful for it.

Time seemed to slow down and let her enjoy the water to the fullest effects.

"Having a good bath?" asked her home. She smiled at hearing the voice of the tree she living within. It was a rather quiet tree compared to the others of the village or the forest. But still it was a kind tree and she still remembered how it would sing her to sleep if she had suffered a nightmare or would talk with her if she needed an ear to listen.

"Yes, it's a wonderful bath." She answered as she moved the edge and touched the wooden floor, touching her oldest and dearest friend as she did.

"They're very upset with you, little sweet. I'm concerned of what they will do to you." It said quietly as if it was afraid that its words would become a reality for her. She knew that her parents were likely to punish her in ways that would hopefully break her and turn her into a proper woman of their culture.

But she would always fight that from happening.

She would always fight to remain herself and to be true to how she was. Her parents could try anything they liked, but she had already proven to them that it would be an impossible task.

"They haven't broken me yet and I doubt they ever will, my dear friend." She said before turned to go about cleaning herself of the day.

"They are thinking of taking you to the sacred tree earlier than is traditional." Her heart stopped as her friend's words and fear ripped through it for a moment. Her breathe chocked her and she thought her body would fail her, that death would take her in that moment.

But she fought the fear and focus on her breathing until she knew how to breathe once more. The fear still held her heart though.

"I'm not nineteen yet, they would need special permission from the priests before they could even think of doing so." Kagome whispered as her mind repeated over and over like a mantra that she wasn't nineteen yet and couldn't go to the sacred tree. Her fear was still there though, it still held her within its grip and she wondered if it would ever go away.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello, I'm the Lady of Gaia

I hope you enjoy the second chapter and please remember to not copy my work. The plot is wholly mine and only the character names belong to the great creator of inuyasha!

Please review what you like about it!

Chapter 2

Sitting at his desk, he looked over the taxes of his province, trying to smother the rage that he felt for his younger sister, Ren at their father's injustice to her. She had never gone to the sacred tree to see who her future husband is and yet their father had already picked a cousin like she would have no match at all.

He knew that it had wounded his younger sister deeply. She had always told him of her fears and hopes for her future. It made him wish that she had never been born with her sacred gift and that another had been born with it.

But she was the only one and the fate of their kingdom rested on her shoulders alone.

She would become queen and live a life of misery for their people. He wished that he could end their cousin's life, but their father had told him that if anything happened to their cousin then his own life was forfeit.

Ren wouldn't had cared and killed the monster despite their father's warning, but sweet Ren had begged him to not kill their cousin and himself.

It was his love for his younger sister that kept him from staining his hands with the monster's blood. But it tortured him to know that Naraku would be his sweet sister's husband, that her children would be bred on her by that monster. His nieces and nephews would likely suffer under their father as well like his sister would. The people worried with how they would fair under their future king's rule. He feared his cousin's rule as well as his sister's wellbeing under that monster.

"Brother?" He looked up, drawn away from his tormented thoughts to see his sweet sister at his door, looking at him with concern.

"Ren, is something wrong?" He asked as he got up from his desk and went to her side at once. She looked fine besides being paler than she normally was; but that was likely because of the horrible news that she had been given.

She had truly looked forward to finding the one man meant for her and now she never would.

"Bokuseno was worried about you, it said that you seemed tormented and asked me to look in on you." She said as she looked fondly at the tree palace that was their home and birth place. Sesshomaru glanced at the wooden wall, seeing the elegant cravings that had been there since before his birth or his father's birth.

"I am fine, dear Bokuseno. I am simply thinking of how to save my dear sister is all." Ren looked at him with sad eyes at his words. Then the tears came and broke his heart.

"Brother…I want to go to the sacred tree. I want to know the face of the man that I am forbidden to love…please." She suddenly begged him. The tears alone had him willing to do anything that she wanted of him. He would kill their own father if he had to see that she went to the sacred tree if that was what was needed.

"Of course, I will speak with father in the morning and then we'll go to the sacred tree. I promise you, Ren in the name of the Goddess."

A watery smile appeared on her lovely face at his promise before she hugged him. He hugged her back, but a little awkwardly since he was still unused to being hugged by anyone at all.

It was funny, he was older and yet he was born from the second queen unlike Ren who was younger and born from the first queen. Yet their mothers and their gifts were what desired their treatment as royalty. He was a prince and yet he would never inherit the throne even if all his family died because he didn't have his sister's powers.

His younger sister would rule their country, but her true duty would be to have children until another like her was born. She didn't fear having children, but she did fear losing them. It was forbidden for the queen to care for or be near her children.

She had always hoped to avoid that fate by finding her true husband as the sacred tree would give her.

"Thank you, brother…I don't know what I would do without you." Her sweet voice said.

"I'll always be here for you, my sweet sister. I will see to it that your hopes and dreams will become a reality." Sesshomaru promised. In his mind, he was vowing to the Goddess that he would do anything to see to it that his sister's hopes and dreams became a reality…even at the cost of his life.

"Brother, please don't do something that put you in harm's way. If I am to marry our cousin instead of my true husband, then I want you to be at least happy with your own wife and babies someday." Ren said, her golden eyes begging him to listen to her words.

"Ren, you are my sister and deserve happiness in this life. I hated the rules of our country and how it limits you and others." He told her truthfully.

He thought of how his sister was like a shy flower afraid to bloom under the light of the sun or the moon when compared to the women of Relevandae Animae and Sora Gentem. The women of either nation were treated vastly different from those of his home land. They were allowed to read, write and choices of self. They played a role in their politics, they were allowed to develop their gifts beyond what is called a 'womanly hobby' and they could be powerful fighters.

He remembered when the High Priestess, Tsukiyomi had defeated him over five times in a row.

"Sesshomaru, it's not in the stones for me to have a future without limits. Maybe others can have that future…but I know that it isn't for me." She told him with complete certain in her words. It broke his heart even more if that was possible to hear it in her voice.

"I should return to bed now. Please try to rest as well, brother." She said before kissing his cheek and turning to leave.

Watching her close his door, Sesshomaru was frozen there for a moment before he exploded in rage at the futility of their situation. His heart and soul seemed to scream at him to find a way to protect his sister and her future, yet the answer evaded him at every turn. His sister wanted him to be happy with his own family, but he found that the thought tainted with sorrow.

If he did nothing then she would never be allowed around her own babies and be forever tormented by their cousin. The thought burned him like white hot iron in a forge and was more horrifying then being captured by the dark god's children.

He felt like a failure of a brother.

He thought of his sister's request that he rest. Sesshomaru found the thought of rest to be a sweet one. For rest brought the promise of dreaming was too good to pass up after a horrible day like that he had. There was also the chance that sleep would allow him the chance to find the answer in its mysteries.

Stripping his clothes from him, he went to his huge bed with no a stitch upon his flesh. The sheets were cold and called to him and his tired mind. Lying down, he hoped that the Goddess would be kind to him and allowed the answer to come.

Sleep was slow to come because tired as his mind was, it refused to let slumber take it and continued to race with thoughts. But slowly sleeps demands were too strong to resist any longer.

 _He found himself in a field of tall green grass with a giant boulder in the center. The boulder looked as if it were trying to reach for the sky, like it was trying to reach out for hope._

 _Looking around, he had thought that he had seen trees before, but now found himself in an endless field of tall green grass. It felt odd and uncomfortable to be out on the light of the sun with trees above his head. It was the same for many of his people._

 _Sesshomaru looked up and saw dragons in the sky, flying together in the clouds and sunlight. They circled him and the boulder as if they were waiting for something. Confusion took grip of him, why were dragons in his dream? Why was he under the open sky instead tree-cover? What did any of this have to do with the problems at hand?_

 _He felt like he had no control and that was something that he had never enjoyed the loss of. It always lead to painful things to him and his sister._

 _Darkness seemed to fall suddenly with his thoughts and his anger at his loss of control. The dragons that had been flying calmly and peacefully seemed to burn with rage; violence with anger as the dragons attacked one another._

 _He stared at the dark sky and the dragons felt that they mirrored his emotions in that moment._

 _Despite the violence and rage that played out in the sky, everything was silence like the sounds of the world had never existed at all. It made him feel like he was staring at scenes of madness that he had only see when he had been on the battle field against the dark god's children._

 _A sound echoed through the dream and he turned his head once more to the boulder, seeing a view of beauty standing on the top of the boulder in a white nightdress of silk._

 _Her hair was as black as the night sky with the stars shining brightly. Her skin was pale like their people, but it was her eyes that had his complete attention. They were a beautiful ocean blue that were more lovely than the most perfect of blue jewels._

 _Sesshomaru walked to her like he was in a trance. He couldn't look away from her and he didn't want to anyway._

 _There was something about her that called to him and he wanted it all for himself. She stood there, staring at him as the sounds of battle roared around them in the skies above their heads. The closer he do, the more he could make out things about her until he was close enough to see tears in her eyes._

 _Her eyes glowed green and she fell back from the boulder. He screamed, his heart had been broken by his sister's tears, but the sight of the woman in danger felt like his heart and soul would shatter beyond repair if he lose her to Goddess's final embrace._

 _She turned in the air and then light cocooned her before his very eyes. It was forbidden for dragons to transform before anyone not belonging to their nation, Relevandae Animae or their mates. It was seen as sacred and a private matter between family and friends as well._

 _Sesshomaru stood there, watching as the woman turned into a dragon. Cocoon of light seemed transparent allowed him to see the woman melted within the cocoon. Her nightdress was ripped to shreds and floated out of the cocoon on the wind. Then everything burst in the same moment, wings, legs, head, massive torso formed within._

 _It made him think of an artist working with clay to create a masterpiece. It was blindingly and perfect, closing his eyes to the blinding light, he felt something hit his chest. When the light faded and the red of his eyelids turned black again, he opened his eyes._

 _His golden eyes widened at the sight that greeted him._

 _A dragon with scales of green. White, black, red, yellow, and orange were the common colors and blue being extremely rare…but there had never been a green dragon before._

 _The dragon lied on the grass, seemingly tired from her transformation and staring at him with the same ocean blue eyes. A boom suddenly ring out, his ears felt like they would explode from the pain that almost have him pass out. Sesshomaru was force to his knees in pain, he shut his eyes, trying to will the pain from them when another boom ringed out, forcing a scream of pain from him. He felt the blood coat his palms. He opened his eyes, but his vision had blackened from pain and took a moment to return to him._

 _It was then that he saw the blue dragon examining the green one, its every muscle looked tight with worry and concern. Blue one turns and looked at him, showing Sesshomaru its green eyes and that his sister was on the dragon's back._

 _They stare into one another's eyes like they were trying to look into the other's soul and see what was there. Sesshomaru kept his face blank and his golden eyes cold as he stared into the dragon's eyes, reaching within them for what would lie beneath the unseen surface. Seeing his sister on the dragon's back, made him want to fight to it to the ground and take her to safety._

 _But if his sister was truly in danger from the beast between her legs then she would be more than a match for the dragon._

" _Are you worthy of my sister?" the blue dragon suddenly growled out to him. Echoing his own feeling towards the dragon._

His eyes shot open and his body feels frozen solid in his bed. He glanced at his balcony. The moon hung high in the night sky and told him that he could have slept more than an hour at most. Yet his body felt like it had slept a full night and he felt refreshed mentally as well.

There was a message in the dream and yet he couldn't think or understand what that message had been. He found his mind going back to one aspect of his dream.

The woman with black hair and ocean blue eyes.

What was she? Was she a dragon? Or an normal human? Who was she? Where was she from? What is she like? Does she even exist? These were some of the questions that burrowed into his like ground bear digging deep into the earth to sleep and escape the cold of winter.

Finally, he felt his body thaw from the dream that had gripped him so hard. Siting up, Sesshomaru felt something slip down into his lap and was shocked by what he saw.

It was a piece of the woman's shredded nightdress.

Taking it into his hand, he stared at the beautiful lace that whispered of nobility of his country. Reluctantly, he brought the ripped cloth to his nose and felt himself react to the sweet scent that clung to the cloth. It smelled of the sweetest fruit and flowers mixed together.

 _How can someone smell like this?_ He thought to himself, hoping the cloth was the link in saving his sister from her terrible fate. Or would it only bring him to the woman of black hair and ocean blue eyes?

oOo

The food before him looked beautiful and likely tasted perfect as always, yet hunger eluded him as he sat at his father's right side. the dining chamber was silent of sound even as his father and sister ate.

Sesshomaru simply sipped the juice that was always prepared for their morning meals. The silence of the chamber felt death was about to fall upon them at any moment. Ren was pale since she had stepped into the chamber and found him and their father glaring at each other. But like always, her presence stopped their fighting.

She opened her mouth, ready to say something when the doors of the dinning chamber were thrust open and slammed against the walls. All eyes turn to the man that stood there and Sesshomaru's anger only boiled hotter at the sight before them.

Naraku stood there for a moment before walking down the long table to them. Ren closed her mouth and looked down at her plate, looking very interested in her food. Sesshomaru knew the truth though, the trembling in her hands told him that she feared their cousin as well as dreaded being near him.

It almost seemed like she thought their cousin's touch was kin to the touch of dark god's child's rotten flesh.

"I have good news, uncle. I have talked the Crown prince and the Emperor of Sora Gentem into coming to the talks this coming month." Naraku said proudly like it was a most challenging task when it was in fact, rather easy to do if you talked to him with respect. But that was something of a challenge for both his father and cousin.

"That's excellent. It's good to know that someone besides Sesshomaru can talk with the royalty there." His father, Inu no Taishō roared in delight before standing to pat Naraku 's back in victory.

"Sadly, I couldn't get Queen Tsubaki to come. Though, her daughters are coming in her stead."

"That's fine; Tsubaki has never traveled from her Queendom. It is said that the High priestess must remain within the walls of their nation and Tsubaki fears what the people will do if her niece is the only one within their nation's walls." Inu no Taishō dismissed.

Sesshomaru thought of Queen Tsubaki's niece, Tsukiyomi . She was a fierce warrior with a gentle heart and soul. She knew that he liked her silks and in the name of their friendship would send him some when she could.

"That reminds me that I bring good news! Crown Prince Hoshiyomi will be marrying Queen Tsubaki's niece."

Sesshomaru's head snapped up at Naraku 's words. Tsukiyomi was marrying Hoshiyomi? That was an unpredictable match if there ever was one. Hoshiyomi was an open minded man, but he often gave into the pressure of his family's ideals and beliefs.

Tsukiyomi …well, in truth, she was more the queen than just the High priestess of her people. She took on every job with her own hands, solved many problems for her people and was a combat teacher to the children of her people. Yet, she always seemed to feel that what she did was never nothing and feared that someone would be scarred like her.

"Did she agree or was she ordered to marry him?" Sesshomaru asked, interrupting what his father was about to say. His father and cousin turned to look at him.

"She agreed…it seems that the Goddess of Lightening wanted the match to happen."

"Then I will look forward to sparring with her again when she comes to the gathering." Sesshomaru said, seeing the hate in his cousin's red eyes. They had sparred many times and never had Sesshomaru's loss a sparring match to Naraku.

"Oh I doubt that you will be fighting her, my son. After all, Abdallah will probably see fit to beat that out of her and turn her into a proper woman like your sister, Ren." Sesshomaru felt the urge to laugh at his father's words, but resisted the urge. His friend would never be broken by simple beatings…hell, she would likely give Abdallah one herself in return for it.

"If you say so, Father…just remember that the High priestess is the strongest warrior of their people." Sesshomaru said before looking at Ren.

She looked pale and sickly.

"Are you done, Ren? Why don't I take you to the solar to play on your harp for a time?" Ren smiled at her brother's words and nodded eagerly like a falling child would a rope that offered life.

They stood when Naraku suddenly grabbed her arm. Sesshomaru stiffened at the contact and Ren put a hand to her mouth as though the hand on her arm was about to make her violently ill at any moment. Naraku didn't notice either unlike Inu no Taishō , who frowned at their reactions.

"I'll take her." With those words said, Naraku was almost dragging Ren out of the chamber. His father sat back down and Sesshomaru found that he could no longer sit there.

"Not a word, Sesshomaru." Inu no Taishō ordered. Sesshomaru saw fit to deny that order obedience.

"He's not a good match for her." He growled like a feral soil dog. Inu no Taishō glared at his son's words, but Sesshomaru could careless for his father's glares unlike his sister's happiness.

"She has the gifts of the Goddess…that means that she must marry royal blood unless another with the same gifts marries you. This is for our survival, Sesshomaru." His father said calmly like it was a simple business matter.

"She become ill from being near him, Naraku is a toxic to her. Also I know that she must have children and that our bloodline is the mostly to allow her children to inherit her gifts. But what if she married her true match and her children inherit her gifts and more? Her children might be stronger for it!" Sesshomaru almost shouted at his father.

"It is a chance that we cannot take."

"So she will live a life of misery because you are a coward." His words had him slammed into the table, his father above him and his father's hand at his throat. The golden eyes that glowered into his own didn't scare him at all.

"I am no coward. A brave man would give his daughter a life of unhappiness for the sake of his people without a second thought. Your sister was born for this reason, to have the gifts and marry for her people's sake." His father's words felt like a knife that was slowly cutting his skin from him.

"Never forget that I was the one that put that seed into your mother's belly. I am the one that you gave your life and I will take it away if it is needed for the good of our people." The hand at his throat chocked him for a moment in time with his father's words.

He knew that his father would kill him without a second thought or care.

If only his father knew that death had never scared him. it was something that came to all and he would never fear its arrival. What did make him scared was his sister's unhappiness and death.

Ren was meant for something more and he refused to let his father ruin his sister's future. There was always options offered and when you found the ones offered to you not to your liking then you created a new one with your own hands. How his father didn't know that simply told Sesshomaru that his father was a lazy man that let tradition control him.

Inu no Taishō let him up and they acted like nothing had happened between them. Though the broken plate in his back was annoying

"Ren wants to go the sacred tree." Sesshomaru said as his father sat down. Inu no Taishō glared at him, likely thinking that he had not learned his lesson on the matter. He never would either.

"She asked me to talk to you about it. She wants to go and see the face of her true husband at least once! Then she will do as you have ordered without complaint." Sesshomaru said calmly.

Silence returned to the chamber.

Father and son stared at each other. The silence around them felt alive with their anger towards each other. Time seem frozen as they stared at one, each wanting the other to bend to their will. But both were too strong to give it and the silence continued because of it.

With a sigh passing his lips, Inu no Taishō nodded his consent and Sesshomaru walked away the victor.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello I'm the Lady of Gaia

I hope you enjoy the third chapter and please remember to not copy my work. The plot is wholly mine and only the character names belong to the great creator of Inuyasha!

Please review what you like about it!

Kagome stared at her embroidery in boredom as her mother, sister and their friends chatted about the newest gossip. She saw more than one envious gaze fall on her work though.

"Is that the stag that you caught yesterday?" Kikyo's friend, Ai asked. Ai's eyes looked at the embroidered stag with desire and longing. Kagome was betting it was because of the stag's meat came at a high price and Ai's husband was the village butcher and smoker.

Ai likely wanted the meat and the coin that it would bring. She had always been so greedy.

"Yes, it was a beautiful anim-"

"How did you hunt it down? You're almost like a man going out of the village to hunt in the forest." Asked Koto, another friend of Kikyo''s. Saying that she was like a man was a horrible insult to her and to her mother.

It meant that her mother was too weak a woman to control her properly like mothers were meant to before giving their daughters to their husbands. No one said anything about the insult though since likely meant that her mother needed to work harder.

But it made Kagome feel good to be called almost a man and she smiled for the first time since the woman's work session started.

"It wouldn't had been easy to hunt it down if I were a man. For such big animal, it knows how to get through very tight spaces easily." Silence fell upon them at her words. But with a smile at her lips, Kagome continued threading the silver through green cloth in her hands.

"It's easier to hunt it down if you're a woman?" Ai asked, breaking the silence that held the other women.

"Maybe…maybe not, it still depends on the skills of the hunter, no matter gender. Because it's still a dangerous animal in the end and you can get hurt easy if you don''t know what you're doing."

The other women paled when she said that. It didn't surprised Kagome since damaged or infertile women were seen as useless to their people. Most women found infertile were burned alive since it was a sin to not be able to give birth to healthy children.

Disgusting tradition. Kagome thought as the women started talking again. No one made anymore attempts to talk with her or insult her though. It was a little funny in her mind, they wanted her to conform to their way of life and yet they shunned her when she was forced to try. She didn't want this for herself and yet no one understood, or rather it seemed no one wanted to understand.

Men controlled their world and women didn't want to be reminded of it. Besides caring for children, women were only allowed to do 'pure' things or ''womanly' things. All of which, she had always hated doing.

"It only another two years until you go to the sacred tree to see who your husband is going to be. You must be excited, Kagome." Reut, one of her mother's oldest friends said happily. Kagome paled at the woman's words, but kept her smile.

She wanted to shout that she would never go to the sacred trees of their country or marry. But it would simply have her send to the temple priests, who would likely break her mind and spirit before sending her to the sacred tree for her match.

Never. The word echoed in her mind like a good luck charm.

"Of course, she is!" her mother replied for her. "What woman can't wait to meet her husband?"

"No real woman wouldn't want that husband, mother…did you hear those rumors about what that Queendom? The mothers give their babies up, boys and girls alike to others to be raised!"" Kikyo said as if the idea was a horrible one.

"That's horrible…what woman wouldn't want to keep her baby boy?""

"Fools and impure women, Ai. That's who! No real woman wouldn't want to keep her son. I could never give up my son, he''ll be far too precious for me to ever even think of it." Kikyo said like that was all there needed to be said.

"What if your baby is a girl?" Kagome asked.

All eyes turned to her in horror of her words. She expected this, though she didn't understand what was so bad about having a little girl. In the rare moments of when she thought of her being a mother, she had always seen her first child as a little girl with her eyes.

She was close to her goal. Selling the fur and meat of the stag mean that she had enough to escape and live in the world beyond her country.

"Kagome…don't say such a horrible thing." Her mother finally said. Kikyo looked outraged at her words and everyone else didn't know what to say. Kagome just looked at her mother and then shrugged.

"Don't act like what you said wasn't horrible, Kagome!" her sister suddenly screeched.

Kagome turned her head looked into her sister's brown eyes, they almost looked black in that moment. "It wasn't, Kikyo. Or should our mother regret having us when we are the only children that she ever had? Having daughters isn't a bad thing."

But the look on everyone's faces disagreed with her. She sighed, feeling like all those around her were children that understood nothing or ever would.

She looked at her stag, it looked beautiful and perfect like always, yet she felt unsatisfied with it. Still, she handed it to her mother.

"I'm done so I'm going." She walked out of the solar before her mother and sister could protest. Though, she doubted that they would since she had embarrassed both of them in front of their friends with her words. Kagome knew that she was likely going to have to go to her father's study because her words, but she didn't care. She was out of the woman''s hobby session and free to do as she wished for a bit.

Heading back to her room, the song that, the tree had been singing out and she stopped with it. Ki had always been a singer and had one of the lovely voices among the trees. The tree normally only stopped when it was talking with someone or another tree.

Making sure that no once was around her to see what she was about to do. She asked her home what was wrong?

"They have taken your hunting clothes from your room as well as your bow and arrows." The words hurt, knowing that her parents and sister didn't understand that she needed those things. They gave her a sense of freedom that she had never gotten from anything else besides hunting and riding Koga.

She stood there in the hall for a moment before turning to go to Miroku's room. He could get her the things that she needed to make more clothes with. Miroku knew how important being out there in the forest was to her. It was her safe place and where she had always escaped to when their world was crashing her.

"Thank you, my friend." She said with a smile and turn to go to her brother's room.

"Miroku has left with your father to meet high lord Naraku." The tree told her. Shiver ran down her back at the thought of Naraku coming to stay at their home. The man was without morals and believed too deep in the traditions for it to not mean something.

"I see…then I'm going to have to hide for a bit." Kagome muttered to herself as she turned to head to her room again.

She would need Koga if she wished to leave without much trouble. Since she was his rider, she was allowed freedoms that were normally forbidden to other women, like not needing a man escort her or be in a group of women to go anywhere. Earth wolves were sacred and divine beings in their people's eyes and were only given to the truly worthy.

Her parents and Kikyo had been disappointed despite the honor it gave their family that she had been given Koga instead of her older brother. Miroku had been happy for her though, helping her care for Koga until she could do so on her own without trouble.

Turning to walk to her room, Kagome smiled at the memory of her first ride on his back. It was what she imagined the sky was and flying was like. The wind had rushed pass her, filling her with a burning passion for the things that were yet unseen by her eyes. She wanted it all, She wanted to experience it all from the oceans of their world, to the sky that was above everyone's head, to the icy mountains, to the deserts and to the rivers of the flames.

It was that moment that made her what to experience the things that were forbidden to her and all women of her people. Reaching her room, she walked in and dismissed the maids that were waiting for her.

Their eyes were dull and their waiting smiles fake, they were like dolls and she hated to looked at them. Both her maids were married and had children, yet they seemed so dead inside. They were her future if she didn't fight for herself and escape. She would escape and be free with uncertain making her life all the more real.

"Where do we escape to today?" Koga asked the moment her maids were gone.

"Anywhere! Anywhere away from here. Father told my hunting clothes from me so now we're just going for a run." She answered instantly, her heart pounding her chest for the ride that about to take place. Her body screamed at her to escape from their home, to taste the freedom to be found out there in the forest.

Koga gave her a wolfish grin and got up from her bed to go to her balcony. She walked over and threw open the doors and felt the wind touch her skin. It felt like power burned her skin.

Kagome got on Koga and found them falling down to the earth. Everything was a blur of color. She barely felt it when they touched the ground and Koga took off running in a random direction. She held onto Koga and lowered her body until her chest was touching his back.

Each step of his paws, pulsed through her as he moved all the faster. It was like she was feeling the earth beneath his paws with her whole body.

She loved it and the feel of it; the ability to feel everything around them for miles away, seeing everything in a blur of color or as clear as if they stood next to her. Her blood was high with power pumping through her veins, giving her the strength to defy anything in that moment.

The skirt of her pale green silk dress, whipped wildly with the winds that rushed pass them. It was almost like the skirt was alive and if anyone saw it, they would say that she was being shame to her family if she was on soil dog.

Koga was one of the greatest things in her life, he was the brother that had all her secrets and would never be forced to tell her family any of them. He helped her keep herself together when she was close to breaking.

Her thoughts turned to the night before.

Tears ran down her cheeks, her throat was choked by the air trapped within her lungs, her mind screamed her mantra over and over. The water around her felt cold, though it had to still be hot since she had not been in it for long.

Her eyes could not see anything with the tears that blurred her eyes beyond the look of her future. Walking to the sacred tree, the path silent except for those that followed behind her. The face and name of the man that she would marry would appear before her. Her parents would seek him out when his name was forced from her lips like all those before her.

She would be forced into a woman's dress and taken to him at the Goddess's temple. Her fate would be sealed and she would no longer be human. No longer a woman that had tasted a little bit of freedom and carried the hope of more within her heart…no, she would be a wife.

The tears were to strong and the lack of air forced her to turn away from the water of her bath. Bile spilled from her mouth, covering the floor in the stew that had filled her stomach.

"I will kill you before I let you lose yourself, Kagome. I will break your neck in that temple before your fate is sealed with that kiss, I promise you." Koga said as he appeared in the bathroom with her.

She looked at him and got out of the bath, not caring that she was going to step in her own bile. She wrapped her arms around his powerful neck and thanked him for his kind promise. They both knew that if he did kill her than he would be killing himself as well. It was something that she didn't want him to do, but the fear of losing herself was too great in that moment to tell him that she would not allow him to die.

Even if it meant that she would slowly die inside.

"Thank you, Koga." She said softly, causing a big grin to appear on his face at her words.

"I am ally to you alone, my friend. If another is your enemy, then they are mine as well and will feel my fangs take their life if they ever try to harm you." He told her. Her head was instantly up at that and glaring at him.

He had gone something that she wasn't going to like and his words were the warning. She had had him since she was five and knew him better almost better than his own mother. So she always knew when he was up to something, felt a little guilty for not telling her ahead of time and told her in a secret way before the trouble slapped them in the face.

"If this ends badly, I will tell Anna to give you nothing but pickled vegetable stew for the rest of the month." She warned him. She felt the shiver of disgust go through him at her words. He had hated pickled vegetable stew for as long as she could remember and was a great way to punish him or make him behave.

"Not the stew! It's not that bad! And if it is then you can say that I just took off in a random direction for enjoyment." The horror in his voice mean her believe him, though the threat would still be there. Hanging over his head as they both hoped that he was right.

Looking up, she knew instantly that Koga was eating pickled vegetable stew for the rest of the year instead of the month.

Up ahead of them were her father, her brothers, their guards and their guest, Naraku. She rather shoot down with her arrows than let him touch her hand. Worse yet, everyone turned to look at her and Koga when Naraku noticed her and smiled creepily at her.

"I didn't know!" Koga said with wide eyes on Naraku. But I did! She growled in her head at the sight before them. Koga moved to turn and get them away, but was too late to do so.

"Lady Kagome!" Naraku shouted to her in greeting. The Goddess or Lord Creation must have hated her.

oOo

She felt the red eyes of their guest return to her chest…again. Naraku had been staring at her chest or at her for most of the evening, not that her parents or sister cared.

She blamed the dress that her mother had forced her to wear. Instead of dressing in a nice lavender dress with pale green embroidered butterflies that she had planned to wear to dinner, a more revealing and captivating was forced on her.

It really wasn't Kagome's style to wear an empress waist black silk dress with no embroidery. But then her mother and sister insisted upon her wearing it refused to allow her another choice.

Kagome already knew what was going on in all three of their heads. Her father and Kikyo were thinking of what a marriage between her and Naraku would mean for their family and the connections that would come with it. Her mother was thinking of how fine a gentleman and husband that Naraku would be for her.

At least her brothers and Koga were on her side. Miroku kept talking about princess Ren as well as foreign affairs and Sota wouldn't stop glaring at Naraku as he held her hand. Koga lied down behind Naraku, snarling at their guest despite her father's displeasure and orders to her to control Koga.

Naraku ignored them and talked with her father about nonsense that she didn't listen to. She just focused on eating her dinner as fast as possible so that she could escape when done.

"So when do you plan to have Kagome go to the sacred tree?" Naraku suddenly asked. She chocked on the wine that she had been drinking at his words.

Koga was at her side an instant and Sota patted her back, trying to help her. His words had startled her and caused concerned for her future. She knew her father would answer Naraku and give them both the answer that she wanted to know. When was the deadline to be prepared and ready to escape?

Would she have a little longer with her brothers? Or would she be escaping sooner than she would like?

"We are unsure at the moment. I would like to wait until she is nineteen to marry her off, but Kagome has not been as ladylike as I would like her to be." Her father said. Miroku almost glared at their father before she put her hand on his shoulder to keep him calm. It would do neither of them any good to cause a fight to break out now on the topic.

"Then I would like to request that you think on it more." Chill ran down her back at her father's smile appeared.

He would do more than think about it; he would force her to go. Her father wanted Naraku's favor, to be in that man's good graces then her father would send her to the sacred tree that very night. The food in her stomach turned into stones at the thought.

She put down her fork and knife as she waited for her father's words. How she wished that she could speak out in that moment, but it was forbidden for women to speak during a meal and non-family members present.

"May I ask why, Lord Naraku?"

She looked at her father for a moment, wondering what he was thinking. Though he did ask a good question, why did Naraku want her to go to the sacred tree?

Naraku said nothing for a while, simply eating his food and leaving them waiting for his answer. Kagome wanted to shout at him to answer her father's question, but her mouth refused to move and her tongue felt like stone.

"Your daughter is skilled in many areas. She is also very gifted with magic, though she would not be trained as is true and right. Her sons wi-"

"And daughters." She said with heat in her voice as she stood and stared at him. She hadn't meant to cut him off or to even utter a word, but hearing that with the stress that weight down on her had made her speak without meaning too. Everyone looked at her, her parents and sister were horrified, Naraku was shocked, her brothers were proud and smiling at her as was Koga.

"I see what you mean by unladylike." Naraku muttered to her father before turning to her. He stood up as well, likely to not be looked down upon by her.

The cruelty within those red eyes scared her, but she would not back down. She knew that if given the chance, he would do horrible things to her; Kagome would rather be tortured than back down to one like him.

Cruel as he was, she knew that he was a weak man as well. He used his connections and bloodline for power, but never his own strength. Her pride as a hunter demanded that she never back down to such weak prey.

"The King does not want power like yours to be wasted or worse yet, used by the dark God to create more powerful children. With my upcoming marriage to princess Ren, the king desires that daughters like you marry as well. If not with matches made by the sacred trees than he will create a match with a powerful family or use you and others like you for political marriages with other lands."

Kagome stared at him for a moment before turning to leave the formal dining chamber before she lost control of herself. Koga was quick to follow and snapped his fangs at any that tried to do the same.

Koga talked to her and yet, she didn't hear a word. Everything was simply a horrible and endless screaming in her ears. She was going to be trapped in her homeland forever, there was no escape at all.

Her life was simply the toy of others and she could not do anything to stop it. Tears came to her eyes as she reached her room and closed the door. Her maids stared at her, their faces telling her that they were confused by the tears that ran down her face.

Koga growled and snapped his fangs at them until they ran out, afraid of him. She went to her bed and lied down, her body drained of all energy and hope. Koga continued to talk with her, but all she heard was the screaming. It echoed in her over and over, making her whole body numb.

Her future was shattered by Naraku's words before her very eyes.

Her hopes and dreams shattered like a colorful ball of glass, beautiful and fragile that was thrown to the ground. It had been taken from her hands and placed in another's; she was forced to watch him shatter it without a care to her feelings.

"Don't give up." Those words suddenly broke through the screaming within her mind. It was then that the screaming stopped all together and she heard Koga''s words.

"We'll leave! We'll leave right now, Kagome! We'll leave and fulfill your hopes and dreams." His voice sounded so desperate and scared that she felt guilty for allowing him to feel that way. He felt her pain with her, he knew that their home was a place that was slowly breaking her. He wanted to safe her from all that would destroy her heart and soul.

She reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his fur. Hope sparked with her as a plan formed in her head.

"Yes…we'll leave. But first, we need to get to Elsa and then to our savings and say our farewells to her. I also have to write up the letters for my family." She said; her face still buried in his fur.

Kagome pulled away and when to her closet to get out the charcoal and paper hidden within. She would write letters to her parents and sister, knowing that her father would read the three letters alone for the whole family.

She would go to her brothers in person and tell them of her decision. They would support her and understand her need to escape before she was trapped forever. They would support each other in the loss of her being a part of their lives and with hope; she might be able to have letters secreted to them in the future.

Kagome dreaded the tears Sota would shed at her decision.

But her little brother would understand, though she feared the years to come where he may resent her for the sudden decision.

She forced it from her mind and sat down on the floor to write the letters to her parents and sister. She started with her father, telling him that she loved him and thought of him as a good man. That he was a caring and loving father that had only ever wanted what was best for her. She had realized that, but she had also realized that what was expected of her was not best for her as a person. It had been killing her inside for years and she could no longer stand it.

She made sure to add in special memories and feelings for him in his letter before moving onto her mother. Kagome found it hard to write something for her mother.

She loved her mother, yes…but the connection of mother and daughter for her have never fully been there between them. When she thought of the woman who was her mother, she would find herself thinking of her. Kagome decided that she would write to her mother about those feelings and how she regretted that their bond wasn't what it should have been as well as how they could never change that now that she was leaving.

Kagome found that Kikyo was the easiest to write. To her sister, she only tried to make her sister understand and see the world as she had. Kikyo had always found their society and culture a perfect one and yet, she had always felt that it was too flawed for women. She was not an equal to the men of their world and know that had always harmed her and made her long for something more.

Kikyo wouldn't understand and Kagome knew that, but she would try to make her older sister see things as she did…even if this was the last time.

Kagome stared at the completed letters. They would always be poor examples of her feelings and emotions, but they were all that she could offer her parents and sister. A sigh passed her lips before she stood with the letters in hand and left her room.

Koga followed from behind.

She headed to Miroku's room, hoping that she had the strength to look at him and tell him what she was going to do. She had believed until that moment that he would support her in her decision, but fear crippled her where she stood. Would her older brother and younger brother truly be there for her when she needed them most?

She was about to find out.

Kagome walked into her older brother's room, finding him at his desk. In that moment she felt like a little girl that she had been. She remembered going to him and asking him questions that others had refused to answer.

Without a second thought and even noticing the tears that came to her eyes, she ran to him. Wrapping her arms around him and the chair, she buried her face in his neck. He didn't move, likely remembering the same as her and knowing they may never meet again after the fire palace returned to the sky.

"I could never ask for a better older brother than you, Miroku." She whispered into his ear. She felt him tremble at her words, knowing that this was as hard him as it was her.

"I still remember the day you were born, Kagome. Everyone had been hoping that you would be a boy…mama was convinced that you would be a girl though. But I just wanted you to be healthy, we were so happy when you were born. Everyone else was disappointed, but we were happy. Mama was convinced that you would do great things when you grew up."

Kagome let go of her brother and moved to look him in the face. Tears were in his eyes and down his cheeks. He took her into his arms and held her to him.

"Mama was right…you will do great things, Kagome and I am proud to call myself your older brother for it." He whispered into her ear.

It hurt, she had always known that it would, but never this much. She was losing everything that she knew and loved. Miroku had always been there, supporting her in all ways. He had never stopped her from being herself, encouraged and taught everything that had her interest.

Her brother was almost like a second father to her and made the tears came down all the harder for it.

"We may never meet again, brother." She whispered as sorrow clawed her from within.

"No…we will meet again one day, sister. I promise you that in the Goddess's name." He whispered back before letting her go so that he could stand up from his chair.

He went to his closet as she watched, curious to what he was doing. He brought a chest to her feet and told her to open it. Kagome looked to him in confusion, but did as she was told. She was shocked to see the beautiful clothes within.

The Shirt was made of fine silk in many different shades of green. It looked as though the shirt would only cover her breasts and the sleeves would longer than her hands. It looked like it was from Relevandae Animae or maybe Sora Gentem. But either one would mean that the guards of the border would not think her a woman of their country.

There was also leather breeches clearly made for a woman, leather boots made for any environment and there was a fur lined cape within as well.

She looked at her brother and knew not what to say. He had just handed her the freedom that she needed more than the air that they breathed. She had no words to give him that would express the feelings of gratitude and thankfulness that held her heart.

"Mama made it for you years ago. She told me to hide it and keep it safe for you until you were ready to leave." He told her calmly. She looked at the clothes, unsure what to say to that. So instead saying anything, she took the clothes in hand when to his closet to change.

"I'll go and get Sota."

She didn't answer and heard him leave as she removed her dress. She would never wear one again for as long as she lived. She had hated them all her life and was glad that it was another thing that she could throw away with her old life here.

She wished that she could take her brothers with her, but Miroku wanted to remain and Sota was too young to join her. She touched the beautiful shirt, feeling the smooth silk beneath her fingers and thought of the woman that had made it for her.

Her mother was a kind and gentle woman, but knew nothing of children beyond disciplining them. Her mother had always managed her father's household and left the raising of her children to others. It was that she didn't love her children…it was that she didn't know anything about them or how to care for them. So she gave birth and had another care for them. Though her mother had always hated how she had loved Akane and had called her mama when Akane had been alive.

When she finished fastening the cape, the door opened and Sota slammed his body into hers.

"Don't go," he begged her and it was a dagger to hear his voice sound so broken. She wanted to fall to her knees and tell him that she would stay or take him with her. But she knew that she couldn't yet and that it would be years before she was able to do so. Instead, she turned and made her brother look her in the eyes. His green eyes clashed against her blue, his eyes begged to her to stay with him.

"I would take you with me if I could…but I can't. It would be too dangerous to take you with me now." She tried to explain, but he was too wounded by the suddenness of her decision and she could see that in his eyes.

Miroku stepped in and took their brother from her. It hurt that she couldn't do that anymore.

"I love you both and I always will."


	4. Chapter 4

Hello I'm the Lady of Gaia

I hope you enjoy the third chapter and please remember to not copy my work. The plot is wholly mine and only the character names belong to the great creator of Inuyasha!

Please review what you like about it!

Sunlight touched her face gently and returned her to the waking world. The smell of cooking food cleared the fog from her mind and allowed her to think. That darkness and silence that had surrounded them had been unnerving to her. She had been weaponless and only Koga to protect her from the unseen enemies that ruled the forest at night.

Getting out of the bedroll that Sango had gave her last night, Kagome looked at Koga, who was still deeply asleep.

She knew that he had guarded her most of the night despite being tired from the run. They were out of the woods for the moment, but the forest still surrounded them. He was her guardian protector with no weapon with her hand to call her own and refused to let her to anything that would be seen as dangerous because of that.

She treasured that he had protected her like so. Giving his head a pat and his muzzle a kiss, Kagome walked out of the huge tent to see Sango holding a pan over an open fire with her thunder cat, Kirara beside her.

Thunder cats were like the stone wolves were sacred animals that were given to the people from their nation or country's parent god or goddess. Kagome had never seen one outside of the books that she would read before

Sango smiled at her and nodded to her to sit down.

Kagome looked at the other woman, always amazed by Sango's appearance and manners. Ela's clothes were unlike anything that Kagome had ever seen on a female body before they met. Even now, Sango was dressed in wide, but short sleeves that were colored ad sewn onto a black silk that covered Sango's ample breasts. Kagome seeing the generosity of the Goddess in her friend reminded her of her own less than ample breasts. They were one of many features that she would have liked changed if possible.

Sango's body seemed perfect when Kagome compared it to her own, strong and yet there was that feminine quality that natural attracted the attention of men and women alike. Sango's hair was lovely brown that reminded her of the rich and fertile soil that was hidden by the green grass under them and yet it was the eyes that made one truly take notice of Sango. They were lovely grey with specks of blue.

Before meeting Sango, Kagome had never met or hear of a person with grey eyes. It was funny that grey was a common eye color in Relevandae Animae as was gold color eyes. But She had only see the princess and the king have golden eyes and most people didn't believe that a person could have grey eyes.

Kagome wondered who Sango had gotten her eyes from, her mother? her father? Or was it a grandparent? She would have to ask one day.

Sango was a beauty beyond compare either. Kagome thought with a smile. There was a little envy, but that was for their different upbringings and cultures…as well as Sango's more ample breasts. Beyond that, Kagome would have wanted her older sister to be more like Sango.

"Good morning," she greeted as she sat down beside Sango.

"Good morning…did you sleep well? I was a little worried since you're not use to sleeping on a bedroll yet, right?"

"I slept fine, I have been sleeping on bedrolls in my room for the fun of it since I was a little girl. First it was for fun, then to help me get used to life outside this country. What are you cooking?" Kagome looked at the pan, seeing spices, herbs, chopped peas and red cabbage and something unusual.

"It's a specialty in Relevandae Animae, most foreigners never have the guts to eat it though. Its called gardener's dinner and is a favorite upon my people."" Sango explained as she put in a handful more of insects into the pan and some animal fat.

"Looks interesting…what does it taste like?" Kagome asked as she watched the insects cook in the pan.

"Its tastes good to me and most of my friends, but not everyone likes it. I know my carer wasn't fond of it like me. He only likes his sweets better than a good meal." Sango said. Kagome looked at Sango, interested in her friend's family since Sango had never talked about them before.

"Your carer? Is that what you call your father?"

Sango looked at Kagome, seeming a little surprised by the question. But Sango was answered the question. "No, a carer is the one that raises a child if its parent does not feel ready for that responsibility. I was born from the duty of all like a lot of my friends were. Do you know what the duty of all is?"

"No, never heard of it before."

"The duty to all is a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. You are the one that decides when you do it, but most do it when they are around fifteen and done with their combat lessons or scholar lessons. Your teachers and carers or parents are the ones that decide on the list of partners for the rite, though you have final said. Some do it in groups or with only one partner."" Sango explained. "There is also a witness to it as well to see that it is done right. Normally it is done by the sexual teacher of one-"

"Sexual teacher?" Kagome interrupted in surprise as a blush was painted across of her cheeks. She wondered what that would be like to have a sexual teacher.

Her mother had always told her that her husband would explain what would happen between her and him in the marriage bed. As well as that the marriage bed was meant to create children and give her husband pleasure.

Sango looked at Kagome in confusion like she couldn't understand the question that had been asked.

"Yes, a sexual teacher. Don't you have one? I mean, you're not a child anymore." Kagome looked at Sango, unsure what to say to the question ask of her.

"Women of Tierra Regnum learn of the marriage bed from their husbands…They are forbid to know from any other. So I don't have a se…sexual teacher." Kagome replied; her cheeks felt as though they were on fire and wondered if her face would burst into flames from the heat.

Sango looked at her for a long moment until the food started to burn in the pan.

Sango was quick to stop that and put the food in their waiting bowls. Taking one, Kagome looked at the food for a moment before taking a bite. She found that she liked the taste and the crunch from the insects.

"What do you think?" Sango asked, watching her like a hawk.

"It's good," Kagome muttered before eating another spoonful. Sango watched for a few moments longer before tucking into her own food.

"I'm surprised that you don't have a sexual teacher…the other travelers never told me that your people lacked such knowledge of your bod-"

"Women lack the knowledge, not the men. A boy is taught by his father or male relatives at around age ten about the male body and the female one." Kagome said, cutting in to stop Sango from misunderstanding. Sango frowned at her words.

"That's rather young…one doesn't learn until they are twelve or thirteen. Normally the carer or parent decides when is the right time and then they are taught by a sexual teacher around thirteen or fourteen before they do the duty to all and their purity of childhood is taken from them."

"Purity of childhood? Do you mean virginity?" Kagome asked and saw that it just confused Sango some more.

"You know the blood stains of the marriage bed, right?" Kagome tried again. Everyone knew that a married woman would bleed from the second act of a husband and wife where they went to bed together on the first night of their marriage.

"No, I don't know of the blood stains of the marriage bed. What the purity of childhood is the first pains of intercourse and the spilling of innocent blood." Sango said, but Kagome found herself confused on one thing.

What was intercourse? Her had never heard that word before and wondered what it meant, though it seemed that the word was involved with a woman's virginity.

It was then that she realized that she truly was going to learn new things and see things that she had never known before. She was already seeing the differences on their cultures from their conversation alone. It might frighten others, but Kagome felt like a chance to become something more. For so long, she had felt like an art piece that could not escape from her canvas and the frame that caged it.

But now she felt like she could escape and grow as much as she wanted.

"Thank you." She said softly.

Sango looked at with question within her grey eyes before a look of understanding appeared on her face. Kagome knew that Sango would understand what she was thanking her for.

Sango was allowing her a chance at something that she had never had before. Something that others like Kagome had always been made to believe would never happen. It was a chance at deciding one's own future and living in one's own way.

Sango was giving Kagome a chance of finding freedom and it was the greatest that had ever been given to her.

"Can I ask you a question, Kagome?" Sango asked before eating more of her food. Kagome nodded, curious to what Sango wanted to know.

"Why are you different from the other women here? Very few women ever want to leave this kingdom and they are mostly commoners. I mean I would understand you wanting to leave if you were from Relevandae Animae or from Sora Gentem, my people could never be able to live a true life here and the people of Sora Gentem would be driven to insanity.""

Kagome was a little surprised by her friend's question. She thought of the first time that she had wanted to leave. It was likely because of that first time that she had seen Akane been beaten by her father in the temple of the Goddess of earth.

Her father had gained permission because Akane had left the village at night to look for herbs for Balin, who was sick with a fever at the time. Akane was punished for trying to care for his son and it had forever sickened Kagome when she thought of it.

The sight had horrified her when she had only been four years of age. The pain was still fresh even after so long, she had been useless in saving someone that she had loved from suffering. The knowledge of that was pained her more than any festering wound ever could. Her mother had held her shoulders, keeping her from going to Akane as the beating took place in front of everyone in their village. Her father had seen to it that the rule of men over the women needed to be reinforced.

Her parents' actions were a betrayal unlike any other and haunted her deeply despite the love that she still felt for them.

Her mother had forced her to watch and whispered into her ear of how her father was doing the right thing. Kagome remembered the tears that stained her cheeks as blood burst from Akane's back. It was also the first time that her gift over the earth had appeared.

Temples of the Goddess of earth were not held within trees. But were one of the few building made within Tierra Regnum's borders and she had destroyed it with her gift.

Her family had never allowed to her to see another's beating after that day.

"My father's second wife helped me to see how wrong Tierra Regnum is and I wanted nothing to do with its culture anymore when she did." Kagome finally answered after long moments of silence that had gone by as the bitter memory played within her mind.

Sango looked at her for what seemed to be forever. "How old were you when she helped you see?"

"I was four and she helped me discover my gifts when I was four as well." Kagome said as she looked at her food. Hunger had fled from at the memory and her friend's questions. Silence touched them then, leaving both women unsure of what to say.

"Its odd, but you remind me of the high priestess just now."

That instantly had Kagome's interest. She had heard of the new high priestess from her father when he was trying to instill in her the wrongness of her unladylike behavior. Yet it only made Kagome more interested in the high priestess that defied the Queen of Relevandae Animae for the sake of the people.

The high priestess was only a few years old then Kagome as well and it had amazed her. Her father had told her that people of Relevandae Animae believed that the high priestess worked to make her country a greater one when he believed that the high priestess simply had no respect for the Queen. Kagome hoped to meet the high priestess when she travelled to Relevandae Animae.

"What is the high priestess like?"

"The high priestess is a kind person and sweet. She spends a lot of her time training and teaching the children when she isn't helping my people out with their problems or when she isn't fighting the black God's children." Kagome heard the pride and strength in Sango's voice as she talked about the high priestess.

"Do you know her?" the question had popped out of Kagome's mouth with her meaning to. But Sango didn't seem to care.

"No, but we share kin. My favorite cousin is lover to her male cousin on her sire's side. Benedek is so happy with Baal and I got word before leaving their going through the Tanjo ceremony…I forward to seeing their children."

"What is the Tanjo ceremony?"

"The Tanjo ceremony is when two lovers of the same sex like Benedek and Baal want to have children. They have a trusted female or male and a healer to start the process of helping the children be conceived." Kagome looked at Sango, unsure of what she had heard just now.

People could marry their own sex? The idea had never entered her mind that such a thing was possible. To see a man hold the hand of another man, what would that be like? Kagome thought to herself as her cheeks were stained red by the thought. It didn't seem to be something that was shameful like her parents would believe it.

Sango had taken notice of Kagome staring at her and her body had tensed. Kagome wondered what was wrong with her friend and asked Sango.

"Do y-

"Someone is coming, sacred one!" The trees shouted as one, drowning out what Sango was saying to her. Kagome stood up and looked through the thick forest that surrounded their camp.

"Koga, get up now! We're about to have company!" Kagome snapped as she ran into the tent to wake up the sleeping stone wolf. She glared at his sleeping hide when he didn't wake up and instead grumbled about pickled vegetable stew being the Dark God's food. Grabbing her cape, she went over to him and kicked his ass.

The stone wolf shot up and growled at her for the rude awakening. For a stone wolf that could look her in the eye when she was pissed off, he could be a big baby sometimes.

"Company is coming to call on us." The stone wolf stared at her for a moment before she found him between her legs and having her slide into place on his back. He carried her out of the tent and started to run.

"We'll meet up later at Willow's Leaves falls." Kagome shouted to Sango as Koga raced through the trees, both knowing that Sango would be left alone with them running away from the camp. The trees told of the direction that the enemy was coming from and Kagome told Koga. With another word, Koga headed to the incoming enemy.

It was always better to draw in prey and then attack them when they least expect it to happen. She may have been weaponless, but that did not mean that she was defenseless in the face of an enemy.

Fire burned in her blood at what they were about to do. To her knowledge, Kagome was going to make history as a woman that openly opposed the mold that her country forced on women. She was take a step like the little seed in a barren land and would a make an attempt to grow. She would grow and help change the land of its barrenness and turn to it back into the fertile lands it had once been.

The enemy was slowly coming to into view. She knew that her father would be in the hunting party, he would be hurt and angry by her actions. But she would not allow him to rule her life.

She had not expected her brothers to come with their father. It was a low move that she had believed their father was


	5. Chapter 5

Hello, I am the Lady of Gaia and I'm so happy that people like my OC story.

I hope you enjoy the fifth chapter and please remember to not copy my work. The plot is wholly mine and only the character names belong to the great creator of Inuyasha!

I'm also happy to tell all my readers that are interested that I will now be uploading the uncompleted first drift of Finding Freedom for you all to enjoy. At the end I will tell you when my completed version will be done and if you like where you can buy it.

I will be updating after each new chapter gains a total of ten reviews.

Please review what you like about it!

Banging on his door awoke Sesshomaru from his slumber and forced him from his bed. Annoyance laced through him at the fool that thought to awaken him form only a few hours of sleep. He cursed his father for dumping so many problems within their kingdom all at once into his lap.

He knew what his father was doing. Inu no Taishō was keeping him busy so that he could not think of a way to save his sister from her marriage.

It only told him how little his father knew him. Sesshomaru would work himself to the bone for his kingdom and his sister. Nothing more important than the two, which had been his belief since his sister had first been introduced to him when they were children.

Reaching the door, he was surprised to see his assistant, Jaken when he opened it. Jaken only ever disturbed him when he was resting when it was an emergency or his sister desperately needed his aid.

"What happened?" Sesshomaru hoped that he kept his voice from sounding as afraid as the thought of his sister ill or desperately in need of his aid.

"A Lady of nobility has fled her home after Lord Naraku had arrived. He told her that she would be going to the sacred tree and it seems that she fled because of it. The king has been told and sought your sister to demand the Lady's location from the trees, but the trees refuse to tell her."

Sesshomaru paled at his assistant's words and ran to the throne room, giving not a though of care for his bedridden appearance as he did.

 _Inu no Taish_ _ō_ _will beat her for not giving him the answer._ Sesshomaru thought as he ran through the halls. Running as fast as his feet could carry him to save his sister from their father's lash.

Reaching the doors of the throne room, the guards stationed there tried to stop him from entering. He slammed a knock-out punch into one of the guards' faces and glared at the other that backed away from Sesshomaru and the doors. The sight that greeted him when he opened the doors set his blood ablaze with rage.

Ren was in front of the throne that their father sat upon, Inu no Taishō's face tired with anger, his whip red with Ren's blood. Ren was faced away from their father, crying in pain from the blood that soaked her gown.

Sesshomaru wanted to kill Inu no Taishō in that moment.

Their father had never laid a hand on Ren before and it was the one reason that Sesshomaru hadn't killed their father in the past. But to see the tears within his beloved sister's eyes caused by their father was the straw that broke the dirt dog''s back. Sesshomaru would not stand back and planned to make his father suffer for the cruelty done.

"Don't even think about it, Sesshomaru." Inu no Taishō said as he raised his hand. Sesshomaru's head snapped up at the ceiling to see the archers ready and waiting to take him out.

"You dare to harm the greatest treasure of our kingdom all because of one noble Lady fled…are we really that desperate for women or is this about your losing power over our people?" Sesshomaru said as he walked toward his sister, intent to help her.

The sight of her back pained him deeply. Deep cuts that promised to scar his sister's once lovely back only feed the fire of rage and hate that burned within him.

Inu no Taishō's actions were forbidden and if the priests knew that their king had done this then they would seek Inu no Taishō's death. His poor sister was the only thing that kept their lands from all apart because of her gifts. No woman, Lady of nobility or otherwise was worth the price of his sister's pain and their father should have known that.

"Lady Kagome has abilities that will be a great asset to our lands. If she has no match from the sacred trees than I will be able to pair her up with a nobleman that could use the abilities inherited by their sons. It could help us greatly in the war! But your sister refuses to understand and give me the Lady's location." Inu no Taishō looked as if he was about to raise his whip and strike Ren with it again.

"Because I can't!" Ren gasped between the tears that ran down her cheeks. Fear made her body tremble almost violently. ""The trees refuse to tell me. They said that she is too important and that the Goddess wishes for her to thrive instead of die as Kagome would if forced to remain."

Sesshomaru stared at his sister. The Goddess knew of this Lady Kagome that was causing troubles and sought to protect her or his own sister, the Goddess's chosen one. How could the Goddess be so cruel to protect one and not the other?

"Sesshomaru," Snapping his head and gaze away from his sister to look at his father, Sesshomaru wondered what Inu no Taishō wanted of him.

"You will go after Lady Kagome now." It was an order, an order that would be obeyed or the punishment would be great.

"No! Please father! Let her go, let her live her life as she wishes!" Ren begged, her golden eyes begging for mercy when their father would give none. Sesshomaru looked to his kind and gentle sister, begging freedom for a woman that she did not know.

It made him hate the little bitch that's actions caused his sister harm.

"Where is her village?" He asked, feeling his sister's eyes on him like he had betrayed her.

"You know of Lord Chokichi's village?" Inu no Taishō asked; Sesshomaru nodded. He knew Lord Chokichi's eldest son, Miroku. They have something in common like how they were both protective of their younger sisters.

"Lord Chokichi is Kagome's father, go there and find her then bring her here." Sesshomaru nodded and moved to pick Ren up, who refused to look at him. He carried her out and took her to the infirmary to see the healer.

The healer was shocked at the sight of Ren's wounds. The healer asked who the wounds were from, but Ren never said a word and simply let the tears continue to flow. Sesshomaru was forced to tell the healer of the abuse done to his sister, which had the healer pale. The healer would be forced to give the temple priests the report of abuse done to the princess, though it was an unknown to what the priests would do about the matter.

Both his father and sister held great importance within their kingdom, but Ren held the stronger position since the kingdom would likely die if she did. Sesshomaru hoped that the priests would see to it that their father suffered for his foolish actions. With his father's power over them; he doubted that it would come to pass.

"Please, brother…do not go after Kagome." Ren whispered, her eyes begging him to do as she asked. He did not understand why she felt the need to protect the unknown Lady from a common fate.

The healer walked away, likely to send someone to tell the priests and give them a moment to speak.

"Ren, it will not harm us to do as is needed. I fear father will harm you farther if I do not do this. Besides the lady's fate is a common one." He tried to sooth, but the look on her face told him that he had only made it worse.

"Yes, it's a common one…but one that I share, brother. I'll never understand why the Goddess made the sacred trees or why we have no choice, but to follow the match made for us." The words held a bitter note to them and made him wonder if other women felt the same as his little sister.

"Yet you wished to go to the sacred trees to see who you were truly meant to marry. Don't be a hypocrite, little sis-"

"Hypocrite? Brother, I hate and love this country. It's beautiful and full of life…but then I see how that life is molded and forced into being dolls. I too, would have been a doll like our mothers if it weren't for you." Ren said calmly, but Sesshomaru still felt the heat within her words.

"I hope to be with someone I love instead of the man that father wishes for me. I dreamed of caring for and loving my children instead of being kept from them. The sacred trees often give the wrong match and people are unhappy, but there are those few good match that love has bloomed from. I wanted to know if I had been meant for one before my fate was changed.""

Sesshomaru looked at his sister and felt sorrow build within him. His sister knew her duty, hated it but would do it for their people. Ren saw the souls of the women trapped by their cultures beliefs and rules, it pained her.

He now knew why she wanted that one Lady to escape the common fate.

If only he could do as his sister wished and could save the Lady. But it was impossible. Ren took rank over the Lady and he would see to it that the Lady was forced to her fate for his sister's sake.

"I'm sorry…but I must still do this."

"But you will upset the Gods and please the Dark Gods if you do. Please brother, the trees are begging that you don't go after her." Ren begged him.

He didn't understand what was so important about this one noblewoman. Their father wanted the girl for breeding stock, his sister wanted her freedom what seemed to be a grander purpose. He was understand of his feelings on the matter. He knew nothing of the woman that he was going to hunt down and not a care to who she was.

"Why? Why would the Gods be upset?" he asked.

"The trees say that she's a part of the test. It's the same test that the first warrior face at the beginning." He stared at her, wide eyes for her words. The woman was going through a test? One like that of the first warrior…he was unsure of what to think about that.

That a woman of his homeland being tested like the first warrior had been was something that was beyond him. The noblewoman in question likely had no training or knew how to survive in the forests of their land. It was impossible; a woman of their lands would never survive without the aid of a man.

"They must be mistaken, Ren. You know that a woman can't survive on her own." He said, hoping that his sister would see reason. But her golden eyes told him otherwise.

His younger sister could be so stubborn when she wanted to be. It was a trait that they both had inherited from their father...sadly not the only trait that they inherited from the fool.

"She's not some lackwit that had no plan in place! She has been planning this for years and trained for it...or did you not know that she was a hunter like her older brother despite being friends with him?"

Sesshomaru just stared at her, shocked by her words. A lord of Chokichi's standing had allowed his daughter to becoming a hunter? For a common woman, it was rare but not unheard of…though the same could not be said for a woman of nobility. He had never heard of a noblewoman being a hunter, no self-respecting father would ever allow their daughter to do such a dangerous thing.

But his sister's eyes told him that her words were true. Ren could hold an impressive poker face, but her eyes always gave her and her thoughts away.

Sesshomaru felt unsure how to take the knowledge that his sister had just given him. a noblewoman that could hunt? Their kingdom was clearly falling apart at the seams if such a thing truly existed.

"You didn't know? How did you not know there had been rumors about it for years now?" Ren said before the healer returned to them.

"I don't listen to gossip…Jaken does that." He excused.

Ren just rolled her eyes at him and then let the healer work on her back. Wanting to stay, but know that he had work to do, Sesshomaru left Ren in the healer's care. Besides, his sister would do all she could to try and make him turn from the orders given to him if he allowed her the chance.

Heading to his chambers, a fire was lit within him.

He had no idea why, he felt excited at the thought of the hunt about to take place. It felt like the beginning and the end of something. his sister had said that the Gods would be upset and that the Dark Gods would be pleased, did it have a connection with the excitement that he felt forming.

Why? Why did everything feel like it was going to change because of what he was about to do? It almost felt like a living thing within the air around them and instead of the fear that he would have expected.

Sesshomaru felt joy and hope for what was about to come. He didn't understand the reaction to the change.

Reaching his chambers, he found Jaken there. Seeing his things were ready for the task in hand, Sesshomaru grateful that his assistant had seen to everything. He wasn't sure if he had been able to do it himself with the rush that was burning through him in that moment.

It felt like his sister knew so much more than him in that moment. Frustration hit him like the stone walls that in cased Relevandae Animae's capital city, Hyacintho Tonitrui. Why were the answers in life so hard to touch?

oOo

" _So what's on your mind?"_ His stone wolf, Sakura suddenly asked. He gave no answer to her words. He had no answer to give, his mind was empty and yet full. It felt like he was swimming in a sea of chaos instead of riding his wolf through the forest to hunt down a woman.

There was only one thought that continued to appear in his head. The woman with black hair and ocean blue eyes. She mean something, but he had no idea what that something was. The dream had meant something and yet, he had no answer, frustration burned in him hotter than the molt metal turned white.

The fire palace's light touched the trees and the earth, still dispelling the darkness that had surrounded them. It should have warmed his skin of the chill that came with darkness.

Yet he felt colder for it.

The village came into view; it looked welcoming after the tiring ride. But they would only stop for a moment for a short rest and to see why the Lady Kagome had run away.

It made no sense that she had run away. Yes, Sesshomaru agreed their society towards women was nowhere near prefect, but many women lived happy lives. So what made the Lady Kagome into a hunter and run away from her home as well as her future? It felt like he was trying to look at painting through a thick fog.

Pieces and bits were here and there, but not enough to see what the painting was. He wanted to see the painting whole and understand why lead Kagome to her recent actions.

Reaching the Lord's home, Sesshomaru admired the beauty of the giant tree from a moment. It seemed a little bigger when he compared it to the tree homes of Lords and wondered what Lord Chokichi did to aid his home's growth.

Lord Chokichi and Naraku greeted him at the gates that surrounded the giant tree with Lord Chokichi's son at their sides.

"May the Goddess give you her blessing this day, prince Sesshomau." Lord Chokichi greeted with a smile, but there were signs that he was deeply worried as well. The man's clothes were in slight disarray, his face spoke of exhaustion but the question was if it was the man's daughter or the man's status?

It was true that wild wives made wild sons, but they also made wild daughters and a wild wife was already more than most men could take. Every father wanted a wild and powerful son, but never wanted to find those in a daughter.

"Greetings Lord Chokichi…why did your daughter run away?" Everyone stared at him as he cut to the meat of the matter at hand.

"Prince Sesshomaru…this is not-" The man looked like he wanted to run away, to not deal with the question that he asked. It made him easy prey.

"Daughters do not run away without reason, Lord Chokichi…what was the reason for yours?" something that had happened to make the man's daughter run and he would find out why before he ran her into the ground. Lord Chokichi's eyes looked away and a sudden need to protect Lady Kagome filled him for some reason.

He didn't know her and had never met her before. But the protective instincts that demanded he protect his sister from all danger roared to life at the thought of harm touching the Lady that he did not know. The hate that he felt for the faceless noble in his mind grew. He was meant to feel nothing like that for anyone, but his sister. Ren was all that matter and the feeling anything for another would put his sister in danger.

"Back off, Sesshomaru." Naraku all but ordered. Sakura snarled at Naraku, rightly so for the disrespect that was just shown to Sesshomaru by Naraku. Sesshomaru cursed his father to the Dark Gods' lands for he knew that his father encouraged Naraku to act like the prince and kind that he had not yet become.

"Do not forget your place, Lord Naraku…prince Sesshomaru is of higher rank than you still." Miroku chided softly.

Sesshomaru looked at Miroku then.

They were almost the same height, but Miroku have more muscle to him than Sesshomaru did. They're looks were vastly different, Miroku had black hair and brown eyes where Sesshomaru had silver hair and golden eyes. They're faces were different as well, though both were handsome to the opposite sex still. But most did not approach them because of their similar personalities that made them seem like stone walls.

But the thing that made them friends were the fact that they loved their younger sisters more than any other person. Most others find their love and care for their sisters odd and disturbing.

"It is good to see you, Miroku…how is your wife?" Sesshomaru said with a bow of head in respect and gratitude.

Having been at the wedding, Sesshomaru knew Miroku's dislike for his shrewish wife, who's voice was torture to one's ears. Sesshomaru would never understand why his father had arranged the match between the two.

"She fares well at her father's home." Surprise brightened Sesshomaru's eyes, it was unusual for a man to allow his wife to go to her father's house unless she was pregnant with his child. it spoke ill of both the husband and wife that their match was souring so much that the wife was forced to return to her father's house.

Glancing at Lord Chokichi, Sesshomaru could see that it was a sore matter for the lord that his son had done so. He resisted smiling at the man's discomfort.

"Goddess's blessing to her then." Sesshomaru said before turning back to Lord Chokichi.

"The reason?"

"She realized that I planned to send her to the sacred tree to see who would be her husband." Lord Chokichi said, yet the words struck Sesshomaru as a half-truth. But he wouldn't push it for the moment.

There was a time and place for everything and now was not the time.

"That's not fair to her! Kagome's only seventeen, father…it's your fault that she's gone." Sota suddenly exploded. He saw the boy trembling and fighting to keep his tears hidden and unshed. The boy's hands balled into fists and were so white.

"Fair or not, this was about our family's honor, son. She turned her back on us instead of doing her duty and-"

"It was her life and she should be the one to decide how to live it, not you." Miroku said, interrupting his father's words to say his own. Miroku looked the opposite of his younger brother to an untrained eye, but Sesshomaru's was trained to see the unseen signs. Anger and rage boiled within Miroku and had been boiling for some time.

"You would speak to your father like this? You both should him the respect that he demands." Naraku said, stepping into the conversation between Lord Chokichi and his sons.

"Enough…let us leave and fine the lady that is missing." Sesshomaru ordered, seeing that the direction of the conversation was going to sour soon if it continued. Besides, he could see the family had a few issues that weren't his concern and didn't really want to be bother by those issues.

Everyone looked at him, all but Naraku looked unsure if that was the right thing to do or if it was better to air things out before they hunted for the woman. A moment later they looked at each other again before going to their mounts. Sesshomaru did the same, his mind wondering what kind of woman that could turn sons against their own father.

For some reason, the high priestess Ash popped into his mind for a moment. It was true that she would likely be able to turn any man or woman to her cause with her actions alone.

But Sesshomaru doubted that Lady Kagome was anything like Ash.

A servant that had been hiding behind the wall, came out and held cloth out for him to take. Sesshomaru turned to Lord Chokichi for an answer, though it was his youngest son that answered.

"It's her embroidery…she did it only yesterday… _mother_ thought it might help to find her." Sesshomaru heard the disdain in the boy's voice, but simply nodded his head in understanding before taking the cloth from the servant. He looked at it, and was surprised by the beauty before his eyes. It was a bejeweled stag of red crystal antlers and silver fur.

The embroidery looked as if it was about to jump off the green cloth. It whispered to him that the Lady had great skill for the art as well as a brilliant mind. It helped him understand a little about the why.

After all the brilliant mind of a woman was often wasted in their world.

Knowing it had never been something that he had never about his home or that it was something he could change. He would never hold the power needed to even thinking of changing some of their lands and people. But still he had been allowed to do things that women never would because he was male.

He closed his eyes and touched the cloth to it. A slow burn ran through him, starting at his feet and climbing up his body. His mind ignored the burn that ran through his body and focus on the cloth, on the embroidery and the one that made it. Fire burned under his skin, in his eyes. Another would have screamed because of the agony pain, but Sesshomaru had learned to endure it.

Suddenly green flooded the darkness of his vision. It rushed pass him, burning him but he knew every detail that filled his vision. then suddenly the rush stopped at this little camp, where two women were sitting beside a fire.

He was shocked by the sight before him.

It was the woman from his dream. She was dressed like a woman of Relevandae Animae, he hadn't been expecting that. But then he hadn't expected her to be talking with another woman that looked like she was from Relevandae Animae. It had always been forbidden for women to talk with foreigners, male or female.

So how had that happened? How had they met? How was the woman of his dreams even real? Why did she feel like she held secrets and answers to questions that would change their world bit by bit?

He couldn't stop staring at the woman…she looked amazing and more perfect then he had seen in his dream. what would it be if he saw her with his own eyes? Would her beauty be even greater? Would she had dreamed of him that night as well?

Sesshomaru took the cloth from his eyes and pain bloomed like a flower of blades. Taking a moment, to adjust to the pain before opening his eyes; Sesshomaru took a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe away the blood that dripped from his eyes. He had always bleed from his eyes after using that power of Seeking. He felt the eyes of everyone on him, but disregarded it like he always had.

Few were ever born with his gift and those that were refused to use it because of the pain involved in its use. It was a pity since the gift was a blessing and a curse in the war. It was something that made him greatly valued by his people and his father now, which had been more than when he had been a little boy.

"Let's go," he ordered, Push the memories that suddenly threated to rise from the surface of his mind. Sakura started to run in the direction that he wanted, their bond the only thing tell her where he wanted her to go.

Everyone followed him, but he almost wished that they didn't. He wanted to meet her and know who she was without the delays that the hunting party would bring. But that want was foolish and not something that he should waste time on. He needed all the time that he to devote to saving his sister from her fate.

The journey was a silent one as they searched for her.

He hadn't expected the woman of his dreams to appear before them when they were only half way to the camp.

"Kagome!" Lord Chokichi bellowed, the moment that the hunting party stopped. Kagome gave her father no reaction; it made Sesshomaru think of stone with how she sat there on her stone wolf like there was nothing to fear. Something took him that she had total control of the situation.

Silence echoed through them for a long time before she moved and got off her wolf. It was then that he saw it, her eyes were afire with anger. Her body looked tense like she knew that she was about to go into battle.

She truly looked like a warrior despite the fact that she lacked weapons.

"What were you thinking? Why did you bring Sota and Miroku? Do you think seeing my brothers will make me come back?" She said calmly with an edge of heat. It was clear that she had disregarded all others to question her father. But there was more than anger as pain suddenly appeared there.

"You dare speak to me like this? I am your father and the one that you must obey-"

"Obey? I am not a pet that ran from her owner! I am person, a woman with a mind that thinks and desires to learn! But it is taken from me from birth by this foul country that we live in. I left to get what I want, to become something more than a broodmare. I'm leaving to be more, but you bring my brothers here to hurt me! You bring to them to make me miss home…it wouldn't work since all that place brings me is foul and painful memories." she cut her father off.

Her words were still calm, but the pain that Sesshomaru had seen in her eyes echoed off her voice and onto her words. He wanted to say something to her.

But he didn't…couldn't.

"I'm a person, a woman…I. Am. Human." She continued, her ocean blue eyes staring into her father's own. "But not here. The teaching of the Goddess has become so twisted that I am not any of that in these lands."

Not a sound could be heard, her words had silenced the world. Sesshomaru couldn't take his eyes off her.

"You have shamed me, you have shamed your brothers and sister, your mother…you are tainted." Lord Chokichi said so quietly that Sesshomaru was unsure if he had heard the older man right.

"Then I disown you."


	6. Update

Hey everyone, this is the lady of Gaia with an update for fans of Finding Freedom.

Okay, to my lovely readers...so the reason that I didn't upload on my blog like planned was because of something very simple.

I hated the completed work so I am to redo it all.

Because I'm going to redo all of it, I will be releasing the old and incompletely version. It will not be edited or have use of the Inuyasha character names. I'll go about putting it on my blog today so please go and read it when you have the time.

If you wish to complain then please do so in the comments and or pm me.


	7. update 2

Hey everyone, this is the lady of Gaia with an update for fans of Finding Freedom.

Its up to chapter 8, more will come on the 14 of April.

Go to ladyofgaia and if you have trouble getting to it then please PM me and I'll help you get there.


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